


Message in a bottle

by Veto_power_over_clocks



Category: Transformers (Bay Movies)
Genre: Epistolary, Except instead of letters it's voice messages sent to the void, Ignores TLK because I haven't seen it, M/M, Not Canon Compliant, Seven people watched AoE three days ago and we all came out of it shipping this, rated for language
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-05-13
Updated: 2020-05-13
Packaged: 2021-03-03 00:27:02
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,186
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24145843
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Veto_power_over_clocks/pseuds/Veto_power_over_clocks
Summary: >> That happened, didn’t it? I fixed you and helped you protect your soul. We talked about my kid, you talked about Bumblebee, and you saved my life twice. And then you told me to look at the stars and think that one of them is your soul.And he took it so seriously that he decided to work on a way to make sure he could talk to the right star.OrCade Yeager sends messages to outer space.
Relationships: Optimus Prime/Cade Yeager
Comments: 20
Kudos: 113





	Message in a bottle

**Author's Note:**

  * For [choomchoom](https://archiveofourown.org/users/choomchoom/gifts).



> I decided to (slowly) watch all Bay movies, got six people to watch AoE with me three days ago and by the end of it we were all in agreement that OP/Cade was real.
> 
> Bex said "cade writing OP letters and building some kind of transmitter to send the contents into space, just in case OP gets them" and I proceeded to use that to try to kick myself out of my pandemic-induced ennui.
> 
> This one's for you, Bex. First because it was your idea, second because I'm still working on your hotlock fic, third because I kinda wanted to give you something nice. Those reasons aren't organized in order of relevance.
> 
> Mars remains my wonderful, beautiful and amazing editor. She says I can quote her summary of this fic:
>
>> my summary would be "can't believe bayverse got an honest emotion in there and that emotion is Gay"

_ >> This is a test message. _

_ >> If for some reason it managed to reach you, it means I finally got it right. _

No shit, genius.

_ >> It only took a bunch of attempts. I lost count around attempt number twenty-three. _

_ >> If somehow this reached you, Optimus… _

What can he say? ‘I think I miss you'?

_ >> We’re okay. I hope you’re okay too._

* * *

_ >> Is it a test message when you aren’t trying to test the equipment? _

_ >> I don’t know. _

A sip of beer. Tapping on the machine. There are still things to tweak.

_ >> I keep working on this and thinking maybe one of these messages will get to you. At least one should make it._

* * *

_ >> It’s Cade, by the way. Cade Yeager, from Earth. I should have said that before, right? _

Yes, he should have. It’s not like Optimus will remember his voice after, what, one week of knowing each other?

Then again, maybe none of these messages will ever get to Optimus and introducing himself is a waste of Cade's breath.

_ >> I don’t know how long it’s been for you since you left. I don’t know when you’ll get this. For all I know, you’re hearing this a hundred years in the future and you don’t remember who I am. _

For all he knows, Optimus forgot his voice the moment he left Earth.

_ >> It’s been five months here. _

* * *

_ >> Hi, this is Cade Yeager. From Earth. _

_ >> I… _

He’d been able to talk to Optimus before, he should be able to talk to him now. It’s not even talking, it’s monologuing. He’s monologued before, he can do it now.

_ >> I thought I’d give you an update on how things have been going here. _

_ >> Tessa is in college now. She didn’t get financial aid, but Joshua’s trying to atone for what he did in the rich people way, so he’s paying for her school. _

It’s hard not to snort at that. Joshua has been throwing money at everything and everyone that will take it. Sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn’t; it all depends on who or what he’s throwing the money at.

_ >> He offered me a job, but I told him no. _

A quick grimace.

_ >> I don’t think I was that nice when I rejected the offer, but he says there are no hard feelings. _

* * *

_ >> Cade Yeager here. From Earth. _

_ >> Joshua dropped by the other day. He’s been dropping by like twice a month since you left. _

He won’t say that it’s been eight months since that. He doesn’t want to make it sound like he’s keeping track; he simply has good memory. It’s hard to forget seeing someone threatening to kill your daughter, your best (only) friend dying, flying a spaceship and, well, Optimus Prime himself. The guy left an impression.

_ >> He seems to think we’re friends? He keeps telling me about how he’s in love with the owner of that factory in China and how she doesn’t give him the time of day. It’s embarrassing. _

Still less embarrassing than sending messages into space in the hopes that an ancient alien robot will listen to them because you miss him.

_ >> You should listen to him talk about her face and her voice and how smart she is. He’d build her a castle if she asked. _

Cade has no right to criticize, not when he spent months finding a way to send his voice into space. At least Joshua would build the castle for someone else, while Cade is talking to the air for his own sake.

_ >> He sounds like me when I met Tessa’s mom. _

Joshua also asks Cade too much about Optimus. Cade never has a good answer, or at least one that doesn’t earn him a raised eyebrow and a knowing smirk from Joshua.

_ >> Please stay safe._

* * *

_ >> Hey, Optimus, this is Cade. _

He leans back and looks out the window of his workshop.

_ >> Cade Yeager. From Earth. _

The sun’s going down.

_ >> How does your species deal with the cold? Metal and the cold don’t get along, so I gotta wonder how you manage out there. _

He rolls down his shirt’s sleeves.

_ >> Please tell me you didn’t fly off with no idea if you’d make it longer than a minute outside of the atmosphere. _

_ >> And what about fuel? How are you keeping yourself functioning out there? _

The stars will be out soon. He could stay and watch them for a while.

_ >> The others told me that Transformers… that Cybertronians have been going around space for a while, but they didn’t really know how to explain your temperature regulation systems. Something like that could be revolutionary, so I’m really hoping you know how it works. It’d help a lot. _

Or he could eat something and go to bed early for a change.

_ >> Stay safe, yes? _

* * *

_ >> Did I ever tell you that Joshua rebuilt our home? Paid the debt, rebuilt the house, insisted that it was the least he could do. And then he decided to pay for Tessa’s college. And he keeps trying to give me a job. _

He also keeps visiting, and helping Cade brainstorm inventions, and sometimes they’re both tinkering with something and they trade just to see what the other is doing, and maybe with the hope of finding a flaw and smugly pointing it out (there’s a scoreboard).

_ >> He’s snoring on my couch right now. We pulled an all-nighter with this prosthetics idea he has. It’d take a lot of what he did back when he was researching your species, but he’s directing it towards… _

A vague gesture. He should try to upgrade to video transmissions.

_ >> This needs too many words to be explained and I’m too tired. I should sleep too, but Joshua’s using my couch and the house’s too far from the workshop. _

He runs his hand through his hair.

_ >> Joshua did a lot of fucked up misguided shit, but he’s trying now. This will help a lot of people. Not just humans, by the way. He’s thinking of how to help Cybertronians too. _

_ >> We’re both trying to help everyone. _

_ >> Ah, yeah. This is Cade Yeager. _

* * *

_ >> In a way, this is still a test message. They’re all test messages until I find out if you’ve received them. _

The transmitter is unimpressive; just a box with dials and buttons. Cade pats it affectionately and smiles at it.

_ >> I don’t have anything to say today, but I had to say something anyway. Enough words for a message, you know, because what if this is the day that everything works and you receive it? _

A box that lets him talk to the stars.

_ >> It’s still Cade Yeager speaking. From Earth. _

_ >> Be safe, Optimus. _

* * *

_ >> Tessa says- This is Cade Yeager from Earth, by the way. I found you in a theater and fixed you in my barn, remember? _

That was a year ago. Who knows how long it’ll have been for Optimus when he hears this. If he ever hears it.

_ >> Tessa is my daughter. She left for college shortly after we met you, and now she’s back for summer break. _

It’s not like Optimus is there to see him, but Cade can’t look at the machine as he talks. He keeps his eyes on the wall.

_ >> Tessa said… Tessa told me… Tessa… _

A sigh.

_ >> She’s fine, don’t worry. Words feel weird today. She has some opinions. I have some opinions. We don’t agree. _

_ >> It doesn’t matter what she said. I shouldn’t have started this message like that. _

_ >> Take care, okay? Space is big and cold and you’re not the biggest thing out there. _

Which is terrifying on many levels that he’s not ready to deal with yet. He’s barely dealing with the one that got him to send today’s message.

_ >> Stay safe, Optimus. _

* * *

_ >> Hey, Big Bot. Tessa here. _

_ >> My dad’s too emotionally damaged and afraid to say it so I’m gonna do it instead: come back. He misses you. _

_ >> I told him that he should let you know that and he got defensive and kept insisting that he didn’t miss you and that I was seeing stuff that wasn’t there. _

_ >> What were you thinking when you told him to look at the stars? I hope you knew what you were doing because that was… come on. “Look at the stars and think of me?” _

Her Optimus impression leaves a lot to be desired. Whatever.

_ >> He’s looking at the stars every night and thinking of you, so you better be looking at the stars and thinking of him too. If not, I’m gonna kick your ass when you come back. _

_ >> Tessa out. _

* * *

_ >> Do you remember what you told me when you left? Tessa brought it up tonight. _

Cade closes his eyes and breathes in deeply.

_ >> She caught me stargazing. _

If Optimus remembers his own words, then he should remember who he told them to. If Optimus doesn’t remember what he said, it’s better for Cade’s pride to stay anonymous.

_ >> Make sure you're safe out there, Optimus Prime. _

* * *

_ >> Hey, Optimus? It’s me, Cade Yeager. From Earth. _

He swallows. He can’t do this.

_ >> If any of these messages has reached you… I don’t know, maybe you wanna know how I accomplished that? _

A sip of beer.

Another one.

Actually, let’s drink the whole can.

_ >> Drift told me that every spark is different, that each one has a signature that you can lock onto if you wanna track a Cybertronian. He says it’s not as easy as it sounds, but he explained what he could. Hound explained some stuff too. And Crosshairs. I learned enough to guess what to do. They also knew what your spark signature’s like so I started from there. _

He’s motherfucking Cade Yeager. He fought aliens and flew a spaceship. He can do anything.

_ >> I’ll spare you the details. I had to ask Joshua for help. He loved it. He spent every minute he could talking about how excited he was to be working on something instead of dealing with bureaucracy and meetings. _

He’s digressing.

_ >> I set this to find your spark signature. I made a machine to find your soul. Can you believe I saw your soul once? _

This is the moment to shut up.

_ >> That happened, didn’t it? I fixed you and helped you protect your soul. We talked about my kid, you talked about Bumblebee, and you saved my life twice. And then you told me to look at the stars and think that one of them is your soul. _

And he took it so seriously that he decided to work on a way to make sure he could talk to the right star.

_ >> I keep looking at the sky and I know that none of the lights I see are you, but I have to keep looking just in case you happen to come back. When all of you first arrived, you looked like meteors, right? So maybe I’ll see you on your way back to Earth. Maybe one of the shooting stars I see is actually you. _

_ >> I’m not trying to say anything here. _

Now that’s a lie.

_ >> Fine. What I’m saying is that… How long did we know each other for? A week? But it felt like… like something. Like a possibility. _

Only a few words left. They'd sat heavily under his tongue for months and he'd started to worry he'd end up swallowing them instead of speaking them, so he might as well spit them out before it’s too late.

_ >> And maybe you thought that too, so I have to keep sending these messages in case we both thought the same thing. So if you thought there was a “maybe” there but didn’t know what I thought… All these messages are because I believe there’s potential for something. _

_ >> I thought you should know that. _

_ >> Stay safe, Optimus Prime. _

And come back soon.

* * *

_ >> Do you ever look at the stars and try to guess which one is our sun? _

_ >> This is still Cade Yeager, from Earth. _

* * *

_ >> I don’t know if you received a message where I mentioned Tessa had said something but then I didn’t tell you what we’d talked about. _

_ >> She told me I should tell you that I missed you. The problem is that I haven’t missed you. Not really. _

_ >> At first I thought that maybe I did, but… What I feel is… I think I’ve been wondering about possibilities. About what might have happened if you hadn’t left. _

_ >> I don't miss you, but I miss the feeling of… the potential of those days. _

_ >> I didn’t want to tell you about it because… _

He laughs, small and self-deprecating.

_ >> There’s only one thing I can say after telling you that, right? And it’s a selfish thing to say when you're out there trying to save everyone. So I’m not gonna say it. _

He lowers his head and buries his hands in his hair.

_ >> Stay safe out there, Optimus Prime. _

* * *

[INCOMING TRANSMISSION]

_ >> Cade Yeager, this is Optimus Prime. _

Cade almost falls off his chair.

_ >> I have received your messages. _

_ >> Keep your eyes open for shooting stars and stay safe. _

He listens to the message a dozen times and then calls Joshua.

* * *

_ >> Optimus Prime, this is Cade Yeager. _

_ >> Have a safe trip. _

**Author's Note:**

> Thanks for reading! Kudos and comments are always appreciated.
> 
> Take care of yourselves, everyone. We'll get through this.
> 
> If promos are your thing, you can [retweet](https://twitter.com/ceehagez/status/1260379675014004737) or [reblog](https://veto-power-over-fanworks.tumblr.com/post/617959957507227648/message-in-a-bottle) the link to this fic.


End file.
